Live to Love Scripture Encouragement Norm Wakefield

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
I’ve read or heard it somewhere that Beloved refers to those who have been loved. The first encouragement from today’s verse is that we who practice righteousness and are born of God (vs. 2:29) are loved! The second encouragement is that the love is from God, our father. The third encouragement is that we have a glorious hope because of God’s love for us: He has promised that we will be like Jesus. The fourth encouragement fills us with joy: Jesus is returning, and we will see Him as He really is. What a transformative moment that will be! Apparently seeing the reality of Jesus’ sonship and our relationship to Him has the power to transform us into His image.
I hope that today you will consider the blessing you have received through Christ. And for my listeners who have yet to believe in Jesus and trust Him with you life, consider the blessings of being a child of God. Loved forever by God, the Father. Children with sensational eternal benefits. Hope of seeing Jesus first hand. Transformed into His likeness. This hope of the gospel gives rise to faith and love. We want to love and do love because we have experienced so great a love from God. What an honor and privilege to be filled with His love and to share it with others. May this be your experience today.
By the way, if you haven’t already visited the livetolovewithjesus.com website, I hope you’ll check out the free resources available to grow in love with Jesus and make disciples who live to love with Him.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
I’ve read or heard it somewhere that Beloved refers to those who have been loved. The first encouragement from today’s verse is that we who practice righteousness and are born of God (vs. 2:29) are loved! The second encouragement is that the love is from God, our father. The third encouragement is that we have a glorious hope because of God’s love for us: He has promised that we will be like Jesus. The fourth encouragement fills us with joy: Jesus is returning, and we will see Him as He really is. What a transformative moment that will be! Apparently seeing the reality of Jesus’ sonship and our relationship to Him has the power to transform us into His image.
I hope that today you will consider the blessing you have received through Christ. And for my listeners who have yet to believe in Jesus and trust Him with you life, consider the blessings of being a child of God. Loved forever by God, the Father. Children with sensational eternal benefits. Hope of seeing Jesus first hand. Transformed into His likeness. This hope of the gospel gives rise to faith and love. We want to love and do love because we have experienced so great a love from God. What an honor and privilege to be filled with His love and to share it with others. May this be your experience today.
By the way, if you haven’t already visited the livetolovewithjesus.com website, I hope you’ll check out the free resources available to grow in love with Jesus and make disciples who live to love with Him.

1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
We are encouraged today by the great love that the Father bestows on those who believe in His Son, Jesus Christ—they practice righteousness. I hope that is you! Those born of God delight in having God as their father, and it is a great love given to us that we are known as His children because that’s what we are! The children of God know each other because they have the same Father, experience the same love through Jesus, and have His life—the same spiritual DNA—dwelling within them. The strands of Jesus’ DNA is love—love for the Father, Son, the Holy Spirit, and everyone in Jesus’ body. The entire family of God revolves around the glory of the Father revealed in His firstborn Son, Jesus Christ. Therefore, the children of God are Christ-conscious and focused on Him. That’s why the children of God are known for their love (John 13:35; 15:8; 1 John 4:8). Being children of God is the source of their identity and existence. Living with Jesus is their way of life, the satisfaction of their souls, and their eternal hope. How great a love the Father has bestowed on them!
As John wrote in this verse, the world does not know the children of God because they have a different DNA, a different father. They are known for their love of the world and the things in the world. If one were to visit this family, they would immediately recognize that they love their lives in this world more than anything else—they live to love the world. That love, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is their spiritual DNA—from the seed of their first birth by their father, the devil. Everyone in the family of the world is self-conscious and self-focused. Their identity is determined by the things they have in this world and the significance and happiness they derive from them. Happiness in this world is their greatest goal, the subject of their discussions, and the treasure that they seek. Those of the family of the world do not know or understand the children of God.
So what is today’s encouragement? I hope it is clear from what I’ve said. If you have been born of God, you know He has bestowed a great love upon you—Because Jesus is righteous and lives in you, you practice righteousness. His love moves you to share His love with the rest of His family. As you share His love together, you know the Father and the Son better, and you know each other better as well. I encourage you to enjoy His family today—and everyday.

1 John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.
What a clear explanation of those who are born of God! They practice righteousness. John has said that those who practice obedience and love display evidence that Jesus is their life source. He wasn’t saying that they are perfect and that they always do the right thing. They practice righteousness like an accomplished pianist practices the piano, or a professional sports player practices his sport, or as anyone would who wants to master a skill practices that skill.
John was saying that righteousness is a priority for those who are born of God because Jesus is righteous and loves righteousness. Because righteousness is a priority, they knowingly, intentionally commit to making time to learn about it and grow in it by reading His word, prayer, and learning from the Holy Spirit and others who are on the same spiritual trajectory. Since they are intentional, they take every opportunity to repeat doing what’s right in God’s sight, namely, in this context, abiding in Jesus so they can believe, obey, and love. They know where their righteousness comes from. It comes from the anointing they have from God, the seed of God which abides in them.
Living to love with Jesus doesn’t just happen by accident any more than becoming an accomplished pianist or a professional at anything comes by happenstance. If we are to glorify God by being most satisfied in Jesus and loving with Him, then it must be intentionally practiced. From this and the previous verse, we are encouraged to practice righteousness. Righteousness has to do with right relating to our fellow man as the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit relate to one another. This is primarily summarized by love. Later in this letter, John wrote that love is the proof that one knows God. These things were written so that we might have confidence before a righteous God when He appears. On that day, everyone born of God will appear with Him in glory. If you know that Jesus is righteous, then practice living to love with Him for His glory.

1 John 2:28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
In the last verse, John testified that his readers abide in Jesus today. In this verse we are encouraged by the confidence and hope that abiding in Jesus provides. The way we live today should always be in view of “that day,” the day Jesus returns. Is that how we are living?
Jesus’ second coming is as certain a historical event as was His first coming. We know from Scripture that when He returns, every eye will see Him (Rev. 1:7), every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father (Phil. 2:9-11). We know that everyone will give an account of his life to Jesus (2 Cor. 5:10). What will that moment be like for us? For His children, John wanted that moment to be a filled with hope and confidence—not a confidence in something they had done, but confidence in Jesus, the reality that their lives were testimonies of His life, love, and presence in this world. Here’s the truth and our hope: the one who abides in Jesus will not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If we abide in Him and live with Him in each of our todays, we will have confidence to stand with Him on “that day.”
We know that if God is for us, nothing can be against us. Paul put it this way in Rom. 8:32. “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” Have you experienced the reality of His giving you all things in this life as opportunities for you to glorify Him by finding satisfaction in this life only in the fullness of Jesus Christ, God’s Son? Your sins, all the days you didn’t abide in Him, your suffering, your blessings, your storms in life, and all your relationships—all things—were freely given to you so you could glorify God by loving and trusting Christ Jesus, our Lord.
How often do you think about Jesus’ coming and appearance? Does it have an affect on your today? If you’re not thinking about it, I think you are missing out on one of the most powerful encouragements to live to love with Jesus. It will be a day when those who abide in Jesus will be established blameless before God. 1 Thessalonians 3:13 “So that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.” When He returns, those who abide in Him will give Him glory and marvel at Him. 2 Thessalonians 1:10 “When He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed — for our testimony to you was believed.”
So today’s encouragement has “that day” in view. Abide in Him. Live to love with Him so you will be with Him when He appears instead of running away from Him in shame.

1 John 2:27 As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.
Hopefully you remember that in verse 20, John wrote, “You have an anointing from the Holy One,” which referred to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In this verse, we learn that his readers actively received or embraced the Holy Spirit’s ministry. He said that this ministry abides and continues to abide in them perpetually. This anointing from God, the Holy Spirit, taught them to abide in, remain in, and receive life in Jesus in all circumstances and relationships. Living with Jesus is a reality. In Him is life. This is not a lie.
Certainly John learned this from Jesus’ teaching recorded in John 14:15-17. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” Then verse 26. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
The apostle Paul put it this way to the Galatians 5:16, “Walk by the Spirit,” and in 5:25, "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” The abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives reveals “the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Eph. 1:19b-23).
Let me encourage us with this summary of the truth of what John wrote. We have the living and enthroned Son of God, Jesus Christ, dwelling within us who will teach, guide, and fill us with His life. We have everything we need in Him in any situation or relationship to trust and love with Him. We don’t need any other knowledge about this world to live in His purpose, fullness, and confidence. When we abide in Jesus and live to love with Him, we testify that He is the true and eternal life.